Coachman Vision 380/2

The Coachman Vision 380/2 is the smallest caravan in the Vision range. And it’s light in weight, at just 1215kg MTPLM

Coachman launched its Vision range for the 2014 season with a simple philosophy: this is a range which is both lighter and cheaper than the Amara range which it replaced. Coachman’s vision for its new range, therefore, is to bring to the market more choice in the lightweight sector.
The buyers who especially benefit from this new direction from the manufacturer which is best known for its heavier, luxury ranges, are couples. There are two Visions made specifically for two; the 380 has its shower-toilet room in the offside corner and the longer 450/2 has a full width shower room.
The 380’s diminutive proportions are endearing, in a cosy sort of way. All you need is here, in a bodyshell that’s just 4m long and 2.26m wide; this is caravanning in miniature, an ideal choice if you want a caravan to match a relatively lightweight car; if you want to keep your caravan weight down in the interests of fuel economy, or if you want something that you can park in a confined space in your garden. The latter factor makes the appeal of the caravan’s light weight even more important, for this is a tourer that can easily be pushed.
Its layout is as straightforward as its appeal. It’s a traditional two-berth with an end kitchen and corner combined shower-toilet room. It’s in the little compartment, though, that you get something of a surprise…
 

Showering

The shower-toilet room is more spacious than it looks from the outside. Considering this is a combined toilet-shower room, the showering space is larger than you might expect, given that down the years of caravan evolution we’ve come to think of corner toilet-shower rooms as miniscule, cramped affairs. This one breaks that mould, with a shower tray measuring 93cm long and 62cm wide. The elbows-out stance of the hair washing routine would present no risk of colliding with walls or the door.
There’s a curtain to confine shower spray. It’s an exceptionally close-weave fabric, with a crispness that makes it hang properly, yet it has a silky feel. And there’s plenty of it; the curtain tracks right around to shield the mirror as well as the walls and door. This is the highest-quality fabric shower curtain we’ve ever seen in a caravan; it’s a long way forward from the clingy curtains we used to see in caravan showers.
The basin is circular, and only 30cm in diameter but it's all you need. It's set into a white plastic vanity unit that gives you three cabinets and four shelves, each edged with metal bands to keep items in place.
There’s a towel loop high up on the nearside wall of the shower room and a shelf above the toilet. Lighting is lovely; two very bright LED clusters shine down over the mirror-basin area. You get the impression that Coachman’s designers have thought very carefully about the 380’s washing arrangements and have created, in this little compartment, something that feels and looks way above the Vision’s supposed status as simply lightweight caravan. It’s a reminder that, while Visions are light and edging into budget territory, they come from a stable where quality is, and always has been, key.
 

Sleeping

Nowhere is that quality, of construction as well as finesse, more evident than in the construction of the double bed. The centre (slatted) section which bridges the gap between the two settees is on a metal frame. It eases out smoothly and effortlessly from under the offside seat; your bed is made in seconds, even if you do go to the trouble of turning over the seat-sections to make the mattress as flat as possible by putting the knee rolls towards the edges of the bed.
If single beds are your choice, you’ll find them plenty long enough (unless you are well over six feet tall); they’re 1.86m long. And when it comes to storing away your bedding, you’ll find that an easy task…

 
Storage

The nearside settee is the 380’s biggest and best storage area. It’s uncluttered by heating and electrical installations (they’re under the offside settee). And the top rises with minimal effort on your part. A quick flick of the wrist and the gas-filled strut takes the weight. Even though the bed frame forms part of the top of the offside locker (so there is more weight to lift), the gas-filled strut takes the weight quickly as you begin to raise it.
There are four lockers over the lounge. The forward two lockers have additional sections which reach forward into the curve of the bodywork; the ideal place for small items.
Two deep drawers are at the centre-front of the 380. There are two more drawers under the wardrobe; these are sizeable, too, at 60cm wide and 11cm deep. The wardrobe gives you a hanging width of 70cm and full long-coat depth, plus two little shelves to the right of the rail, just big enough for some gloves and a couple of folded woolly hats. This shelf arrangement is a neat, clever design, as we discovered when we investigated the 380’s table storage arrangement…
 

Dining

The table stows away vertically, in its own compartment between the wardrobe and the shower room. It’s easy to remove and replace. Above it, two small shelves offer you hideaway spaces ideally proportioned for DVDs and books. On the other side of these shelves are the ones that are inside the wardrobe; it's a small feature, maybe, but another pointer to the depth of design thought that has gone into the creation of Coachman’s smallest caravan.
Your other dining option, of course, pulls out from the top of the front-central chest of drawers. It creates a level surface of 63cm wide and 77cm deep, if you measure it right to the front of the windowsill; that’s plenty of dining space for two.

 
Lounging

Two ample, squashy bolster-style armrest and two large cushions enable you to create a relaxing nest here. You can put the armrests at either the forward or rear end of the seats, depending on whether it's the view out of the window that you want to look at, or your television, perched next to the aerial and power points on the dresser next to the door. The sprung upholstery is firm, with good, deep knee rolls; the 380’s lounge is a comfortable environment.
It’s visually pleasing, too, with pale turquoise patterns on the cushions and bolsters and the same shade appearing in the weave on the seating. This shade creates a sort of sunny-day image.
And when the sun isn’t streaming into the 380’s lounge, there’s plenty of lighting to ensure it’s always light and bright. Nine big LED lights are set into white plastic shades that form part of the top line of the side lockers. Lights are concealed between two wooden panels that follow the caravan’s front-line curve in the top corners. And the woodwork in Visions is exceptionally pale, enhancing the light and airy look.
 

Kitchen

The ample lighting aspect of the lounge continues in the kitchen, with three more of those white-encased lines of nine LEDs. One is above the main kitchen area; two more are in the dresser, above and below the microwave housing. And there’s more. A long line of those bright LEDs spans almost the width of the kitchen area.
The 380’s kitchen configuration is simple: A dual-fuel hob, oven and grill to the left; a roughly oval sink in the centre and a 47cm-width of surface to the right of it.
Above the fridge, forward of the door, is more surface space, but this one will be shared with a television if you use one.
Kitchen storage is generous, given the petite size of the caravan. The lower cabinet is 85cm wide, with a shelf positioned roughly two-thirds of the way towards the top, creating space for tall items below it.
A drawer, 50cm wide, will take care of a lot of stuff; there’s also a drawer above the fridge; this one is fitted with a cutlery tray. Three selves run down the door-side of the kitchen. Three more, of a similar size, run down the aft edge of the dresser. And there are two more, triangular, larger shelves alongside the fridge. This kitchen’s storage capability is impressive, given its compact size.
 

Towing

Towing, too, is impressive. Caravanners who may have towed end-kitchen two-berths of the past and found them to be unstable owing to the heavy items (oven and fridge) being aft of the axle, will be reassured that that trait has long gone into the realms of caravan history. The 380’s fridge is over the axle and it’s a well-balanced outfit with a 70kg nose weight. On its road test it was every bit the nimble tourer we’d anticipated. And when we returned from its road foray, instead of positioning it back on its pitch with the car (as we normally would), we unhitched and pushed it there. Just because we could.

The Coachman Vision 380/2 is a classic end-kitchen two-berth but with a larger shower and more storage capacity than many. This is one of Britain’s smallest tourers, and light enough to be pushed. It has impressive lighting style and a quality feel and look everywhere. It’s not the cheapest caravan in its size-class, but it is surely one of the most appealing, with soft-tone turquoise fabrics stunning lighting designs and a generous amount of shelving in the shower room and around the kitchen.